Green Power

The Economist has an interesting article (link) about efforts to create a global electricity market by building high-voltage, low-loss DC power lines and creating a continent-spanning distribution grid. The main advantage of this is that it would allow power to be distributed over much greater distances, making feasible the distribution of surplus solar power from Egypt, wind power from Ireland or hydro power from Scandinavia. Very cool.

Marcus Brigstocke's Rant

Last Friday (20th July '07) on Radio 4's The Now Show, Marcus Brigstocke indulged himself in a 7 minute rant against the Abrahamaic religions. There were probably complaints (easy to understand, given the contents) but it was funny and merits a listen. Find it here: link to MP3.

Dinner

I had dinner last night with Ko, Lucien and Matt at Tutton's in Covent Garden. The food was ok (although we spent more than we had expected) but we had trouble finding the restaurant, partly because none of us had brought a copy of the directions (and with me "leading" the way, this is a definite problem) but mostly because the post-code check on Google Maps, which I had consulted shortly before leaving the office, indicated that the restaurant was at the other end of Russell Street.

I meant to mention last night (but forgot) that our first names and surnames, when arrange in alphabetical order, start with consecutive letters. Not very interesting, perhaps, but this sort of thing keeps me amused in the small hours.

Trains - An Improvement!

Previous comments about the service offered by Network Rail, South West Trains and the London Underground have been pretty negative. Delays, cancellations and lack of seats can make travelling by train a demoralising experience.

Since the New Year, however, things have improve dramatically, in two ways:

1. Our office has moved to Aldwych, so a 35 minute ride on the Northern line is no longer part of my commute. Joy!
2. The punctuality and reliability of the Southampton to Waterloo service has improved dramatically.

It is true that the train is regularly a few minutes late into Waterloo and that the service is often very crowded and that the ride is not very comfortable (some sections of track shake the train violently from side to side) but my subjective impression is that the trains are now far more reliable and that problems are caused by congestion within the M25 rather than problems on the track or with the operator (as was the case last year).

This improvement on the part of SWT is so noticeable that my (highly subjective) verdict of last year - "significant or very annoying delays on 25-40% of all trains" - must now be updated to: "pretty good, actually". Seating and comfort remain as issues that could be addressed, but puntuality and reliability are now good enough that I could happily recommend the service. That is a bit of a turnaround, isn't it?

Jesus and Mo, Part III

Today's comic (link) made me laugh. Very cool.

EU Wine Lake

The EU has come up with a great way to reduce the EU wine lake; pay farmers to produce less wine (source). The over-production, which results in vast quantities of cheap wine being turned into industrial vinegar, has two root causes:

1) Increased production of good-quality wine outside the EU has reduced demand for French, Spanish and Italian wines,

2) The EU’s protectionist policies have successfully kept alive some businesses that should have gone to the wall years ago and prevented consolidation within the industry.

In a free-market economy, subsidies would not be paid and companies would stand or fall according to their abilities. The current system protects weak companies and hinders the growth of their more successful competitors. The obvious solution is to de-regulate the market, phase out the subsidies and free vineyards to compete and succeed to the best of their abilities.

Last Week's Bombings

An article in The Register (link) confirms what was previously only suspected; the people responsible for last week's astonishingly incompetent "terrorist attacks" were exactly that; astonishingly incompetent. It's quite a good read, really.

Floods - Blunt tools of Punishment!

I read with relief that the floods that have affected much of the UK are in fact a punishment from God for the country’s poor performance in the Moral World Cup last year (according to the Bishop of Carlisle; link). That’ll be a relief to the insurance companies, who presumably will now avoid lots of claims, but is the Church really claiming responsibility on behalf of God? Terrorists often claim responsibility for acts of violence to enhance their reputation or political power; it looks like the Church of England is going the same way.

Smoke-Free Pubs

The smoking ban came into force in England yesterday and Susie and I celebrated by visiting our local for a mid-afternoon pint. The pub itself was nicely smoke-free but it was not free of smokers, who indulged their habit outside the front door; it also seemed rather quiet but we do not visit often so our benchmarks are probably skewed. Overall, I think the ban will improve my quality of life but, as we do not spend much time in the pub, it will be a fairly small improvement. Now, if the Government could make our local sell a decent range of food then I think we would be regulars. Here's hoping!